Valerian, The Legendary

182 Wisdom.

The scream belonged to Rectus, he was smacked by a vine whip, however, the shocking thing was that the holder of the whip was not Valerian. Rectus did not see how he got hurt, and he looked at the young boy and said indignantly, “You brat, you are getting too ballsy, do you really think I will not beat you up?”

Valerian sighed and then raising his hand he said, ‘You are thinking too much, I am not the caster of that whip.’

Azula was taken aback as well, she also thought that it was Valerian who cast that spell. Rectus did not believe him and said, “You have learned to lie as well?”

As soon as his words dropped, another scream sounded as he was whipped again and this time it was harder than before. He rubbed his butt as he jumped around in the room. The scene was so hilarious that Azula forcefully held her laughter. Rectus said, “You did it again, if not you, then who did this? The princess, the cat, or do you think I am a masochist?”

Valerian gave a sign, ‘Who knows what you are? Also, do not look down on her.’

Rectus thought the child was talking about the princess and then he said, “I am not looking down on the princess. I am looking down on you.”

Coincidentally, he was standing with his face looking at the silver cat on the bed when he saw the creature waving her paw and the vine whip smacked his butt again. He was so shocked at this moment that he forgot to scream. Just when the dragon inside the cat was about to flare up, Valerian clapped his hands and attracted the attention of the people.

Fortuna turned to look at him and the boy said, ‘Do not beat him so that he has a hard time sitting.’

The cat turned her head away in disdain and then walked over to lie down on the window sill. Azula and Rectus were surprised, while the latter was meeting Fortuna for the first time, the princess had always thought this cat was just a little intelligent and not a magical beast. After all, Fortuna maintained a low profile and never acted in front of them, however, there was something about Rectus that irritated her.

.....

She wanted to beat Valerian to a pulp but this guy was sick, so her frustration was taken out on this guy. After Valerian signaled her, she stopped and went to the corner in protest.

Azula asked, “Your cat turned out to be a magical beast.”

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘Forget it, I have been out for ten days, tell me what is going on.’

The princess was about to answer when the door was pushed open and Fragrantia walked in with a maid behind her. The maid was none other than Priscilla, she was responsible for three meals to the prince and she did her job with all honesty.

Fragrantia was surprised to see the two people and asked, “How did you get to know that he woke up?”

Rectus bowed and said, “Greetings, your excellency.”

Fragrantia nodded and Azula said, “Mother, we only came in to check how he was doing, but he was awake already.”

The empress nodded and helped Valerian sit up, even when he moved his hands to indicate that he can do it on his own, she did not care. She simply said, “Do you feel pain in your back?”

Valerian shook his head and Fragrantia set a makeshift table in front of her and placed a bowl of soup meticulously. The boy was about to raise his hand to drink the spoon when the lady glared at him, making him calm down. Fragrantia acted as if they were the only people inside the room and did not bother with the shocked eyes of her daughter or the mage beside her.

Valerian spoke with his signs, ‘Rectus became an Archmage.’

Fragrantia looked at the wind archmage and said, “Congratulations.”

Rectus bowed and replied with thanks, then Valerian communicated with Azula in signs asking about the situation at the Sapeintian borders and all. The princess replied to him with patience and Fragrantia did not stop her. Suddenly, Rectus said, “I heard something about a Continental War, what is going on?”

This made Valerian’s ears stand up and he looked at the archmage. Fragrantia glared at the man and said, “Do you not know where and what shall you talk about?”

Rectus froze, he could not stand the glare from Fragrantia, and bowed as he said, “I apologize, your excellency, I will take my leave.”

Fragrantia waved her hand and then let him go. She focused on feeding the boy sitting in front of her. Valerian looked at Azula and gave her a silent sign to leave as well. The princess knew this guy was up to something, and said, “Mother, I have something to deal with and tell the news of his recovery to father and brother.”

Fragrantia nodded and said, “Tell Adele not to worry and not to rush coming back here.”

The princess nodded and then she left the room. Valerian focused his gaze on the lady feeding him soup with care and sincerity. The boy raised his hand and made an apology sign. The lady stopped and asked, “Do you know the mean behind an apology, child?”

Although she sounded to be caring and warm at the moment, she was actually acting distant. When she left the room to get him some food, her initial excitement calmed down and her motherly heart was taken over by the mind of the empress. She decided to discipline this lad. Do not forget that she even taught her own son a lesson when he acted out of line, Valerian was nothing less than her son, but she was not going to be partial in this case.

Valerian nodded and said, ‘I was wrong in doing all this without telling you beforehand.’

Fragrantia nodded and asked, “And?”

The boy continued, ‘I made you all worry when I disappeared, and I troubled you.’

The Empress shook her head and said, “You do not have to apologize for making us worry. If your family does not worry about you, then who will? What you must apologize for is underestimating your enemy and almost losing your life in the process. What do you think would have happened to you if not for Fortuna?”

Valerian lowered his gaze as if he did not have an answer to the question. He was not a fool to not know what the consequences could have been if Fortuna did not come to his rescue. He said, ‘I apologize, I will never do such a silly thing again in my life.’

Fragrantia said, “You can try all that you want to, but before you do that, think about the family you have. What will they do if you suffered a misfortunate fate? Who will seek revenge for your parents and who will solve the questions you have?”

Valerian nodded and the lady fed him soup until the bowl was cleared up. Priscilla had been standing in the corner of the room and came over to quietly clear the table for them. Fragrantia said, “Go to the Imperial Magic store and find a collar chair artifact for the prince in the evening.”

The maid nodded and replied, “As you command, Your Excellency.”

Valerian leaned against the headrest and asked, ‘What is the continental war?’

Fragrantia sighed and said, “Humans are driven by interests and the greediest person is not the one at the end of the queue or the person at the head, but the person that stood behind the leader.”

Valerian asked, ‘Meaning?’

The empress began talking and soon Valerian understood what was going on. He said, ‘The centaur sure are foolish to think they will be able to win in all directions.’

Fragrantia did not deny him, after all, this was the truth. The Centaurs will not be able to withstand a four-sided attack if they were to provoke a war. Fragrantia nodded and said, “That is why they are siding with the berserkers. They will first use the manpower to channel the rage of the valkyrians and defend them, and then they will trick the valkyrians.”

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘Fools, they are the biggest wall between Lumen Empire and the valkyrians. Since the berserker have such an ambition why will they wait for the end of the war before turning against the nation that has been invaded already? What is our stance on this matter?’

He was seriously asking Fragrantia about this matter, which surprised the lady a bit but she still told him that they intend to attack the Stella empire first.

Valerian shook his head and said, “The Stellan Empire is weak and unstable, someone hungry for power must be seeking an opportunity. Give him that opportunity and use him to cut off the berserkers, on the other side have the Sapientians put pressure on their borders. Lumen Empire should directly strike the fools to ease the oncoming trouble.”

Fragrantia was shocked, this strategy was not only aggressive but also clever. She wondered if this boy was a general reincarnated. Valerian looked at her and said, ‘I will go to sleep.’

This was an excuse to have the lady run his suggestion through the court and see if they can do it his way. As he closed his eyes, his mind entered a dark place with the phantom of the old man.